Thailand Blog

Lam Thap is a district of Krabi Province about an hour inland from Krabi Town. My wife was born and raised here – in a house just outside Lam Thap Town, surrounded by a forest of palm and rubber trees. You will hardly see any tourists here, but it does happen that some choose to stay a few nights at the only hotel in town to get away and save a few bucks. Since Emerald Pool and Hot Springs are pretty close, it’s not a bad idea to stay here overnight and go early the next morning to beat the crowd.

If you are interested in staying here, I recommend coming on a Monday and visit the weekly market in Din Daeng 8 km from Lam Thap Town called “Talad Siyak Suanpalm”. It’s a wonderful market inside a forest of palm trees located close the limestone mountains that separates Krabi from its neighboring province of Nakhon Si Thammarat. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous! You will not see any tourists here so the locals may look curiously at you. This is a unique opportunity to get in touch with the local life far from tourism. Come here between 2.00 p.m. and 6 p.m.

The market in Din Daeng is located close the mountains that separates Krabi from Nakhon Si Thammarat.

The market is huge, and the locals love coming here.

You’ll find lots of food prepared for Thais who want the real thing. We bought some grilled pork skewer for 15 baht each.

Four different kinds of noodle dishes.

A young lady with a 20 baht bill in search of something nice.

People also come here to buy daily groceries like lime and garlic.

These lovely Thai Muslims were happy to see a “farang” and offered me to try some fresh pineapple. Delicious!

Waffles, anybody?

A fisherman posed as he asked me to take a picture of him.

Fresh coconut juice with meat.

You can even find kitchen accessories here.

Lam Thap Town

The town of Lam Thap itself doesn’t have much to offer more than a few shops, sidewalk restaurants, 7-Eleven stores, a daily food market, a supermarket, an internet café and a hotel.

A typical Thai town with gold shops.

I’m a regular at 7-Eleven when in town.

The town also has a Tesco Lotus, which is a supermarket chain in Thailand.

12 thoughts on “Insider Tips: Lam Thap in Krabi Province”

Jim CarterMay 31, 2018 / 2:01 am

Lam Thap sure has changed! I lived in Lam Thap between 1987- 1990. I was a Peace Corps Volunteer working with the Thailand Department of Agriculture. I also worked with an elementary school in Din Dang village! When I was there, Lam Thup was classified as a sub-district or Ging Amphur. I still keep in touch with a few friends that live there. You are correct, it is very rare to see a farang in Lam Thap. Glad you could make it there. Thanks for the great article.

Just one more tidbit of information. My wife is from Nakhon Sri Thammarat. She was one of the first nurses to be assigned to a health station in neighboring Bang Khun. Today Bang Khun has a small size hospital. After we married, I used to ride my motorcycle from Bang Khun to Lam Thap; and each day I would pass the Siyak Suanpalm (palm plantation 4 way intersection). Back then the road from Lam Thap to Bang Khun was basically a dirt path. The ride on my motorcycle was amazing, especially during the season when the coffee tree flowers were in bloom. Coffee was one of the main cash crops in Lam Thap until the 90’s. I would always think to myself how lucky I was to see this beautiful place that is quite literally off the beaten path in Thailand.

Unfortunately, there are no more coffee tree plantations in Lam Thap, as far as I know. A friend of mine who grew coffee told me that it became unprofitable to continue his plantation, so he, like the other farmers cut down all of his trees and grew palm oil and rubber instead. On a similar note, when I first arrived in Lam Thap many families grew their own rice; now it is very rare to see a rice field. Most of the pics that I took are on Kodachrome slides. Unbelievable right!? I’ll try to have them developed and send you a few.

It is so cool to keep in touch with someone who knows of Lam Thap. I found some old pics of Lam Thap and some pictures of my wife and family when we visited Kho Phi Phi. Please send me an email message and I can send you a scan of the pictures I emailed to myself. Sorry, I don’t have a facebook page or twitter account.

I’ve been coming to visit my wife’s family in Din Daeng since 2007. Bought some land in Naa Pu back then. Currently living in Suan Palm whilst we build a home in my wife’s palm tree plantation in Din Daeng.

My wife might well have been at that Elementary School when you were there!

Sorry it’s been awhile since I’ve been in touch. Hope you are doing well, Anders. Pete, I remember a few of the teachers at Din Daeng School when I was there. Ask your wife if she remembers Kru Raywat, Kru Jit, or Kru Kick. Sorry, I only remember nick names. That’s awesome that you are living in Lam Thap, Pete. I’m hoping to go back to Thailand this July to visit my wife’s family in the south. Possibly we could connect. Take care to both of you.